Hop to candy-making emporium for Easter treats

Jerry McCrea View of Easter Candy figure that can be made at home from a plastic mold which can be purchased, part of the do it yourself home made Easter Candy setups at Sweet 'n Fancy Emporium in Cranford.

Have you started shopping for Easter basket goodies yet? My girls are gone and my son leaves for college in the fall, but I still make baskets filled with their favorites from childhood. They’ll always be my babies, and I’m still hoping I’ve done fairly well in the “Mommy loves you” show.

But Sheila Loria puts me to shame. She also still makes baskets for her grown children, but instead of walking into a candy shop and placing her order, she actually makes the bunnies, the colorful eggs, the chocolate chicks and the little lambs. She also decorates lollipops that are so elaborate, they look like illustrations from children’s books.

Loria owns Sweet ’n Fancy Emporium, a place where truly industrious and creative moms, dads, grandparents and anyone else with some initiative can choose from more than 5,000 candy molds, hundreds of cookie cutter shapes, chocolates, fillings, icings, pans, pillars, parchment and decorations so cool, you can look creative and just be industrious.

It’s exactly how Loria herself got started. As a young mom, she had been looking for fun things she could do with her kids. A neighbor told her about candy-making, and she was hooked. Soon, she was the most popular class mother around. She had Daisy and Girl Scout troops making lollipops and earning badges for their efforts. Her daughter continued to bring lollipops to her friends all through high school, they were so popular.

She had been shopping for her supplies at a small candy and cake-making shop since the early 1980s; in 1988, the owners decided to sell the business. Loria said, “Why not?”

Today, Sweet ’n Fancy is twice the size and has about four times the inventory of the little shop she took over. In fact, she’s run out of space and will be moving to 3 South Ave. in Cranford around the end of April, although the phone number will not change.

In the 22 years Loria has owned Sweet ’n Fancy, she’s seen character candy molds and cake pans come and go, from Power Rangers and Ninja Turtles and every Disney character you can name to Hannah Montana, Dora and Diego, Transformers and the Backyardigans.

But for Easter, you can keep it traditional, and make individual chocolate candies, filled eggs or lollipops, cupcakes or even three-dimensional Easter bunny cakes, if you prefer.

Clear plastic candy molds are $2.50 each, and depending on the size and shape of what you’re making and how quickly you want to finish, you may need more than one. They come in several designs of lambs, chicks, eggs, bunnies, baskets, crosses and lilies. If you’d rather decorate lollipops, Loria and her staff will gladly give you instructions and tips on how to “paint” a chick’s beak orange, turn a white chocolate egg into a pastel checkerboard or outline a little lamb’s eyes and ears in any color you wish.

That said, for $1.99 to $3, buy the house-made lollies and bake a cake, if that makes you feel better. Elaborately decorated works of art, these lollipops make memorable gifts. I saw one that had a bunny with an adorable face looking out of an Easter-egg-shaped window, surrounded by green shutters and pink flowers and a rainbow of colors on the roof. The lollipops were made by Loria’s sister, Debbie McLoughlin.

Candy molds come in shapes for other holidays, traditional chocolate-shop shapes and pretty much any theme you can think of, so you can make your own creations.

I also spotted a chocolate strawberry dipping kit for $3.19 that looked like a good and easy idea.

No matter what you’re making, you have to melt the chocolate first. So you can buy Merckens molding chocolate in milk, dark, white, peanut butter and a variety of colors ($3.99, 1 pound; $18.50, 5 pounds; $35, 10 pounds) or Wilbur molding chocolate for those with peanut allergies at the same prices. Wilbur is a little less sweet and comes in milk, dark and white. Loria also carries parve ($6.99, 15 ounce bar), sugar-free and carob (both $7.99, 1 pound), caramel for dipping apples or topping chocolate ($5.49, 1 pound; $23.50, 5 pounds), and fillings for eggs, including peanut butter, maple walnut, coconut, raspberry and peppermint ($4.99 to $5.99, 1 pound.).

There are more than 30 vibrant food colors, pre-made roses in lots of colors, sprinkles in holiday-based colors, sparkly sugar and chocolate drizzlers for that special dessert plate.

Then it’s on to what I call the Cake Boss Junkies department. Roll out your Satin Ice fondant for intricate bows, polka dots or other designs, and while you’re at it, buy fondant in several colors or gum paste for flowers and figures (all $12.99, 2 pounds). There are even fondant cut-outs ($2.59 per set) of flowers, leaves, hearts, stars, letters and people.

If you’ve watched the Cake Boss crew whip up a masterpiece, you may have noticed the gear. Pillars, mats, platforms, dividers and pattern sheets — it’s all here including something called a brownie stencil set (I have no idea).

Some of the cookie cutters are what you might expect, but Loria also carries pianos, firemen’s hats and high heels. If you want your lamb fuzzy, try coating it in coconut. If you want hearts on your next pie, there’s also a kit for that.

And if candy-making sounds like fun, don’t worry — your purchase comes with an instruction sheet and actually, it doesn’t look difficult at all. If cake decorating is for you, Loria offers classes.

This year, I think I’ll buy a few of McLoughlin’s beautiful lollipops and add them to my kids’ baskets. In my house, creativity is playing to an empty nest.
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